Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Fisnics Purple.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Fisnics Purplexe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany and Moncarapacho, Portugal. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new medium-sized Impatiens cultivars with an early to medium flowering response and large rounded flowers with attractive coloration.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor during the summer of 1998 of the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Danharpl, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,094, as the female, or seed, parent with the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Kinoc, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,433, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Fisnics Purple was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Moncarapacho, Portugal in April, 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Moncarapacho, Portugal, since July, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Fisnics Purplexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Fisnics Purplexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Outwardly spreading and uniformly mounded plant habit; small to medium growth habit.
2. Freely branching and freely flowering habit.
3. Large medium green-colored foliage.
4. Large, rounded, red purple-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the foliage.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the female parent, the cultivar Danharpl. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Danharpl in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were shorter than plants of the cultivar Danharpl.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens had longer and lighter green-colored leaves than plants of the cultivar Danharpl.
3. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens were flatter than flowers of plants of the cultivar Danharpl.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the male parent, the cultivar Kinoc. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Kinoc in the following characteristics:
1. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens were more rounded than flowers of plants of the cultivar Kinoc.
2. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens and the cultivar Kinoc differed slightly in color.
Plants of the new Impatiens can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Papete, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,457. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Papete in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens had green-colored lateral branches whereas plants of the cultivar Papete had dark red-colored lateral branches.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens had shorter, smoother (less rugose) and lighter green-colored leaves than plants of the cultivar Papete.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Papete.